The Last Laugh

There's nothing that I love more than the look of red clay. The redder the better, so much so that a lot of my old stuff was expanses of bare clay with iron oxide rubbed in to make it even redder.

So to go from this:

To this:


Is a departure for me. This is stage one of the painting process for this piece, a process I learned during the workshop I took with Janis Mars Wonderlich. I'm trying something new, in other words, but it is definitely a learning process in progress. I love the color which will only intensify as more layers are added. The face will become whiter as the cheekbones are emphasized with a wash of black. The snake's tongue will become redder, shinier, and its eyes glitterier and darker both. And so on.

But what to do with the expanse of skin, arms, breasts, and belly? Leave them dark red, full of life? Paint them a paler brown, or darker? I'm not sure yet. Luckily this is only stage one. The piece isn't even fully dry yet and won't be for weeks.

The upturned eyes make me laugh. They were meant to be upturned for the same reason that saints have upturned eyes, but with the hands clutching the belly, they add some element of mirth, don't you think? I like that.


Someone--who?--will have the last laugh.

Mercury is in retrograde this week. Make of that what you will.